Cold Light of Day, page 26
She sped out of the drive. “I see Hank in the rearview. He’s calling the dogs back. They decided to come after us.”
“I’m not so sure the gang shouldn’t have come too. You know, for backup,” Grier said. “They saved us.”
“We’re taking the advantage back, Grier. These cheechakos, outsiders”—she glanced his way, then back to the road as she swerved—“let me clarify. You have skills, Grier, so I’m not referring to you. But these international criminal intruders think they can come into my state and create chaos without repercussions. Well, I think it’s time we gave them a proper Alaskan welcome.”
“And what exactly would that be?” Grier shifted next to her. “I don’t think I got one.”
“The kind of welcome she’s referring to isn’t one you want,” Nolan said.
“What? You pull a grizzly out of your back pocket? I need to know the plan.”
“Grier, get the cell out of my pocket, will you? I can’t reach it.” She twisted, and he pressed impossibly close but snagged the cell.
“Now what?”
“Send a reply that we’re five minutes out.”
“The map says that we’ll be there in three.”
She steered across the bridge and turned off the road into the forest and slammed on the brakes. “Okay. We’ve got two minutes. Everybody out.”
“What’s going on?” Grier asked.
Autumn hopped out and opened the decked toolbox in the truck bed. “There are only two vests in here. One of them fits only me.”
She tossed the Kevlar to the side. “You guys decide who is wearing the other vest. Nolan, you get the rifles.” She glanced at Grier. “This is Dad’s truck. He packs everything.”
Grier stared at her. “And what are you going to do?”
“Mateo is after me. I heard him on the train tell you he was after me and the money. I was on the other side of that door when you were shouting at each other. So we’ll try to exchange the USB for my mother and Sarah, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll trade myself and the USB for them.”
He shook his head violently. “That’s not going to work. You’re not letting them take you.”
“I’m not a fan either,” Nolan said.
“If it comes to that. I figure once they’re safe—because Mom and Sarah are the priority here, right?—then you two can take out the bad guys. I’ll use whatever advantage I can get.”
“And what if they get you into the helicopter or airplane or whatever they’ve got at the airstrip and fly off?” Grier clearly wasn’t going to let her do this.
“No.” And neither was Nolan.
But she had news for them. “You know that if that’s what they want, we don’t have a choice if we want Mom and Sarah back. Now, get ready. We’re running out of time.”
Autumn donned her vest, then stepped to the driver’s-side door. Grier stood in her way. “You do this, Chief, I’m going with you. I’m not playing sniper in the woods.”
“I’m not the chief anymore, so when are you going to call me by my name?”
His gaze roamed her face, lingered on her lips, sending heat rushing through her, then settled on her eyes. Half his cheek hitched in that grin. “When this is over—”
The sound of rotors jarred Autumn into action. A helicopter was firing up. They were out of time. “Let’s do this!”
She climbed into the driver’s seat, and Grier got in on the passenger side. Nolan took off into the woods toward the airstrip to get into place. “Nolan’s an expert marksman. He’ll take care of us.”
“I still wish there was another way. I’m sorry that I got you into this. Everyone into this—”
“Nothing to apologize for. You ready?” She floored it, racing the old truck over the bumpy road through the woods and around a steep ridge, then emerged from the forest near the opposite end of the airstrip—a 1,200-foot-long down-sloping gravel runway. Carrie James’s hangar sat at the other end of the airstrip next to the Goldrock River for use with floatplanes.
In the middle of the strip—the helicopter waited, rotors powered up.
Autumn continued forward. She needed to get close but not too close. Heart pounding, she pressed hard on the brakes and the truck skidded to a stop about fifty feet from the helicopter that supposedly held her mother and Sarah.
This feels too close.
But they needed to negotiate.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Grier dangled the USB drive out the window, signaling that he had what they wanted. He started to open the door.
“No, let me do the talking—at least for now.” Autumn slid out of the truck but remained near the door.
Dressed in tactical gear like a soldier, Mateo hopped from what appeared to be a stolen, doors-off, tour-company helicopter. Her heart rate kicked up.
“I want to see them right now,” she shouted. “You’re not getting anything until they’re free. Right here. Right now.”
Another man stepped out—Rafael? He was out of prison?—and assisted two women out of the helicopter. They were bound and gagged. At the sight of the two sets of fear-filled eyes, Autumn thought her knees might buckle.
Mom . . .
She didn’t have time to unpack the flood of emotions at seeing the woman she thought was dead all these years. The blame she’d held on to.
Grier got out and held up the USB drive.
Autumn sidled up next to him. “Give it to me,” she whispered.
He walked forward. “Send the women over, and I’ll walk to you. Get close enough to toss it to you.”
“Grier, what are you doing?” Autumn whispered behind him. “They want me, not you.”
“Precisely why you’re not making the exchange.” He started forward again and glanced over his shoulder. “You stay here and wait for Sarah and your mom. Be prepared for anything.”
Rafael remained at the helicopter while Mateo ushered the two women forward, holding each of them with an iron grip. With their hands bound, they could run but couldn’t fight.
FORTY
Grier walked forward and stopped in front of Mateo, though not too close. Just out of the man’s reach.
He looked at Sarah and then at the chief’s mother—who had very similar blue-and-amber eyes. Rafael had been fascinated by her, unwilling to let her go. But he apparently was willing to let her go for money. If appearances could be trusted.
Grier dipped his chin. “Did they hurt you?”
The waterboarding memories raced across his mind.
The women shook their heads, but Sarah’s eyes held a message. She was going to try something? He pretended not to notice and telegraph that she wanted to communicate. He didn’t hold her gaze, just remained aware of their surroundings.
He lifted the USB drive. “It’s yours. Take it. They can walk back with me.”
Mateo smirked in a weird, tough-guy way. “You come with the drive. Once we verify it contains the information we need, then you’re free to go.”
You’re not a very good liar. “Not happening.”
His only goal was to get the women to safety, and maybe he was playing the tough guy as well.
Mateo thrust the muzzle of his gun into the base of the woman’s head. Autumn’s mother. Jessie. “You come with the drive, or I take her or the police chief with me.”
Okay. He was going with them. He threw his hands out in surrender. “Whoa, whoa. Easy there. Let them go, and I’ll come with you.”
At least he could be relieved that the brothers were not demanding to take the chief or keep her mother now. Their tactics had shifted, for some unknown reason. He didn’t care what it was.
He nodded at both women and took a step forward, expecting them to do the same. Mateo shoved Jessie forward, and she slightly stumbled but righted herself. Mateo kept his weapon trained on her. Grier’s insides tensed. What was going on?
Sarah headbutted Mateo. Gunfire blasted around them.
“Get down!” Grier shouted.
He dropped to the ground, along with Sarah and Jessie and even Mateo. Grier jammed the drive into his pocket for now.
More gunfire ensued, but it echoed off the mountain. Their secret-weapon sniper.
“Get out of here, Sarah. Get Jessie to safety. I’ll take care of this guy.”
Grier got back up and started for Mateo, but he rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet. He shoved Grier to the ground and pointed his pistol at him.
The guy stood over Grier, making himself a big, fat target.
Take the shot, Nolan!
Either Nolan would take Mateo out, or Grier was going to die. Come on, Nolan, what’s taking so long?
“Mateo!” someone shouted from behind them.
Grier focused on Mateo, whose eyes suddenly grew wide. He kept his gun pointed at Grier.
“If you don’t come with me now, your women”—Mateo gestured toward the old Ford truck where they were hiding—“will never be safe.”
Grier understood that reality. More than anything, he wanted to take these two men down today. The chief and her mother would never be safe, and he would have to continue to look over his shoulder too. Rifle fire echoed. Mateo instinctively ducked and scrambled toward the helicopter. Grier took in the situation. Rafael held his gut—a gunshot wound.
Nolan’s work?
Grier scratched his head. Mateo didn’t even take the USB drive. Grier glanced behind him, and his heart rate kicked into overdrive.
A two-hundred-foot-long wall of mud, boulders, sand, and trees crept down the hill toward the airstrip. It moved at a slower speed than some he’d heard about that had left a trail of bodies and missing persons. But it was almost to the truck. Nolan emerged from the woods and raced forward.
Grier could run to them, but he wasn’t going to make it. He glanced at the helicopter. He didn’t want to lose these criminals, though he was not law enforcement and had no arrest authority. He’d learned from Autumn that, in Alaska, you made do with what you had available.
Everyone piled into the truck, and Autumn sped away from the slide and shouted out the window.
“Grier! Come on, get in!”
“Don’t try to save me. You’ll be buried.” He had no idea if she’d heard him—probably not—but she could see he had different plans, and she wouldn’t risk the lives of the others.
Grier sprinted toward the helicopter, which was now lifting off the ground. Then he jumped and grabbed the skids, hanging on. Weirdly, Mateo thrust his hand out and assisted Grier onto the chopper. He had no idea what that would look like to the others—it could very well make it appear that he was guilty, after all. He climbed into a seat, and Mateo pointed his gun at him.
Rafael could only look on—sweating and bleeding as he was. He would die if he didn’t get immediate medical attention. Mateo didn’t seem worried, and maybe Rafael’s death would work out better for Mateo, who had lived his life in his brother’s shadow.
Maybe Grier was crazy to go looking for trouble. To chase it. But he was done hiding. Done playing games. He was taking his life back now, or he would die trying.
Either way, neither Mateo nor Rafael would come for Autumn or her mother again.
“The drive for your woman’s life.”
Mateo could just shoot him and take it, but maybe he wasn’t completely sure Grier still had it. Now it was Grier’s turn to smirk. “You’re never getting your hands on it.” He glanced at the mudslide. “I tossed it.”
Or he would . . . right into the river. Next chance he got. He wasn’t here to hand over the money to them. He was here to take them out.
Mateo’s face reddened.
The hairs on the back of Grier’s arms tingled, and he instinctively rolled out of the seat as three bullets hit the leather. He thrust his fist into Mateo’s face but received three punches to his gut in return.
He and Mateo fought, wrestling in the helicopter as both gripped the weapon. Grier ground out his words. “You need to get your brother to the hospital or he’s . . . going . . . to die.”
“Hay una temporada para todo. My mamá made sure I attended the best Catholic schools. It means, there is a season for everything.”
Mateo freed his weapon from Grier’s grip and then aimed at Rafael and fired at the exact moment the helicopter shifted, and Rafael’s body with it, so he missed. But then he turned the gun back on Grier.
“He was too focused on the women, the both of them. I had to come all the way here to set my eyes on her to make sure she was in this forsaken hole! It was cold and snowing, and I hated it.”
Could it be that Mateo had been here in May, scouting the place out? “You. You’re the one who killed Kenny and Monica.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“On the mountain back in May.”
Mateo’s dark eyes flashed. “I didn’t need witnesses. As for Rafael’s obsession over the Long women, our organization is suffering because of it. Now it’s time for me to have my moment at the top.”
“And that’s all it’s going to be—a moment!”
The helicopter suddenly took a dive and then whirled. The pilot shifted forward against the dash, bleeding from a bullet hole in his head. Mateo had missed his brother but shot the pilot! As the helicopter spun again, Mateo slipped through the open door, letting go of his gun to grab on to the skid with both hands, his feet and body dangling over the Goldrock River below.
“Help me!”
“Here, take my hand!” Grier reached for him, but the helicopter’s incessant spin caused Mateo to lose his grip.
He screamed on the way down and hit the water.
That’s exactly where the helicopter was going too, and Grier could not free himself from the building inertia of the spinning bird.
FORTY-ONE
Hang on!” Autumn floored the truck, heading perpendicular to the mudslide to get out of the way.
Mom and Sarah were crowded in the truck cab with her, and Nolan held on in the truck bed. He hit the top of the cab and shouted, “We’re not going to make it!”
She pressed the accelerator all the way to the floor. The engine roared, and the truck’s tires spun out in the saturated ground, then got traction. Still, the truck wasn’t fast enough. If she could get them as far as she could . . . preferably to higher ground.
Nolan signaled, and she suspected he was tracking with her.
“Get out,” she said. “Nolan is signaling for you to climb out the window.”
“What?” Sarah asked. “I can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”
“He’s going to help you to get up on top of the truck. Trust me.”
“What’s the point? We can’t make it.”
Nolan reached into the window on the far side and practically pulled their mother through the window. Mom was in the bed of the truck with him now.
“Okay, Sarah. Your turn. You can do this. Go.”
“What about you?”
Out the passenger window, the rush of mud and boulders and tree trunks moved toward them, increasing in speed as if competing with Autumn, trying to prevent their escape.
“Go. Now!”
Sarah scooted toward the passenger-side window and slid out so she was sitting on the edge. Autumn’s gut remained clenched as she willed this plan to work. Nolan assisted Sarah the rest of the way out of the window as the truck bounced over uneven ground. Finally, Sarah joined Mom and Nolan in the bed.
If Autumn left the truck, it would stop, and she needed to get them out of the path of debris, but she was losing the battle. The mud edged forward and caught the truck’s front wheels.
They were so close. Almost there.
God . . . help us. Just. Get. There.
Feet. Just a few feet.
The woods angled up an incline away from the trail of destruction.
Autumn floored the accelerator, hoping the back tires could give them enough push to get to safety, but the truck shifted toward the river, pushed by the debris.
Time to leave.
She started to climb through the driver’s-side window, and Nolan pulled her out as if she was a bag of potatoes. Either that or adrenaline was driving his every move.
“Hurry! Go now, Mom!” he shouted. “Climb across the top and jump. We can make it!”
She leapt over the cab, then pivoted off the hood, landing out of the mudslide’s path. Then she crawled up the incline and turned around to watch. The slide pushed the truck toward the water, bending and crumpling the metal. Sarah screamed, and Nolan caught her before she fell. Autumn clung to the truck bed. This vehicle was about to crush under the weight of tons of earth.
“Come on!” Nolan shouted. “We have to do this together or we’re not going to make it.”
“I’m right behind you!” Autumn shouted. “Go!”
Nolan hung back, waiting for Autumn to make her move.
“Go!” She urged him again.
Frowning, he grabbed Sarah. “We’ll jump together. Let’s go!”
The two crawled over the cab and leaped across the hood as the truck twisted again, and Autumn held on. She crawled onto the cab.
Heart hammering, she stepped onto the hood and started to jump. The truck suddenly shivered and tilted, the metal frame twisting and crunching. Autumn’s feet slipped out from under her and she slid across the hood and onto the ground between the truck and the river. She bolted to her feet, fear gripping her. Paralyzing her.
The truck and the mud would crush her. She had to get out of the path.
Voices shouted. Nolan, Mom, and Sarah watched from safety, their voices amping up Autumn’s terror.
She raced toward them, but it was too late.
She couldn’t make it.
Instead, she turned and ran away from the mudslide toward the water.
The slide, crunching and creeping behind her, along with the grind of trees and boulders stuck in its path, nipped at her heels and caught her as she reached the water. Pushed her forward and out as it slowly ate her.
She pulled in a breath as a tree trunk forced her down deep into the cold water. But the water worked to break up the mud, and the log floated to the surface, releasing her.
